A gaming laptop is a space-saving alternative to a gaming PC. The two main benefits are size and portability: a gaming laptop is much easier to pack away between sessions and far more convenient take to LAN parties or on holiday. This buyers guide walks you through everything you need to choose the perfect gaming laptop.
The majority of laptops marketed for home and office use rely on inbuilt graphics chips within the CPU. Whilst theses are capable of playing very simple games such as Minecraft, a dedicated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the way to go for great gaming. A more powerful GPU will enable your laptop to run games at higher quality settings at a smooth frame rate for a superior gaming experience.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs are the gold standard for gaming laptops. The below tabs summarise GeForce RTX features.
DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) is an advanced AI-powered rendering technique unique to NVIDIA graphics cards that uses the Tensor cores to increase frame rates. DLSS enables you ramp up the resolution to enjoy higher quality graphics, without sacrificing performance.
DLSS 1 uses a technique called Super Resolution to upscale frames from a low resolution to a high resolution. DLSS 2 employs temporal anti-aliasing upsampling (TAUU) to improve image quality and performance and is supported in hundreds of games.
DLSS 3 builds on these upscaling techniques but is even faster as it can create entirely new frames, interspersed between Super Resolution frames. This new Frame Generation technology uses the Tensor cores unique to NVIDIA RTX GPUs and can even boost the performance in CPU limited games such as flight simulators.
DLSS 4 builds on these upscaling techniques and frame generation techniques but uses AI transformers rather than neural networks to produce three frames interspersed between Super Resolution frames. This new Multi Frame Generation technology uses the Tensor cores unique to NVIDIA RTX GPUs and can even boost the performance in CPU limited games such as flight simulators.
The RT cores enables real time ray traced graphics in games. Unlike traditional rasterised graphics, ray tracing simulates how light beams and shadows actually work, providing far more rich and realistic graphics.
Reflex delivers the ultimate competitive advantage, enabling you to acquire targets faster, react quicker and increase aim precision through a revolutionary suite of technologies that measure and optimise system latency. The latest Reflex 2 uses Frame Warp to update the rendered frame based on later mouse movements than would normally be done, driving down latency as low as 1ms.
The NVIDIA App is the essential companion for PC gamers and creators. Keep your PC up to date with the latest NVIDIA drivers and technology. Optimize games and applications with a new unified GPU control center, capture your favorite moments with powerful recording tools through the in-game overlay, and discover the latest NVIDIA tools and software.
Broadcast is a software suite that helps streamers take their channel to the next level with tools such as background noise removal, virtual backgrounds and an auto frame function that zooms in on you and uses AI to track your head movements, keeping you at the centre of the action even as you shift from side to side. With these great features, NVIDIA Broadcast is like having your own professional studio and cameraperson.
Max-Q is a collection of tools that optimise your gaming laptop, coordinating the GPU, CPU, memory and cooling system to improve performance and extend battery life.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX range comprises many models - to make the selection process easier, we've divided the GPUs into four main categories in descending performance, as summarised below.
Following your choice of GPU, the next consideration should be overall size and weight. Size will be primarily governed by the size of the laptop screen which can vary from as small as 12.4” to as large as 18”. While a larger screen is obviously more immersive for gaming, it does come at the expensive of weight, so if you’re going to take your laptop around with you a lot a smaller screen may be advisable.
It’s also a good idea to look at the weight and thickness of the laptop. High-end laptops tend to be made from lightweight metal, whereas cheaper laptops are made from heavier plastic. You’ll also pay a premium for thinner laptops versus a thicker bulkier laptop. The below table compares two 15.6” laptops from the same manufacturer, MSI - the laptop on the left is the standard Raider model, with the premium thin and light Stealth model on the right.
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| MSI Raider | MSI Stealth | |
| Thickness | 23.4mm | 19.5mm |
| Weight | 2.38kg | 2.1kg |
| Price | ££ | £££ |
The two key characteristics to look out for in a laptop screen are the resolution, which is the sharpness, and the refresh rate, which is the speed. Most gaming laptops also have at least one graphics output for you to connect an external monitor. This is often a preferred method of gaming when using your laptop at home - we’ll cover this a bit more later.
Resolution is the number of pixels (the tiny dots that make up the image) that the screen possesses - it is shown as a number for screen length and a number of screen height. The higher the resolution the sharper and clearer games and applications will appear. However, its important that the GPU is powerful enough to run games smoothly at the screen’s native resolution. For instance, we’d only recommend a 4K screen (3840 x 2160) with a high-end GPU.
The higher the refresh rate of the screen, the faster it redraws the action. This is essential for fast paced competitive online games which tend to run at a high frame rate, but less critical for high fidelity single player games which tend to run at a lower frame rate. The bare minimum in terms of screen refresh rate is 60Hz, with different manufacturers offering a multitude of higher refresh rate screens up to 300Hz.
Although of secondary importance to the GPU, it’s still important to choose a gaming laptop with a suitable CPU. There is wide change to choose from either the AMD Ryzen 5, 7 and 9 range or the Intel Core i5, i7 or i9 range. Intel has recently added to its Core range with the Ultra series, aimed at premium laptops, offering built-in AI acceleration to boost productivity and improved efficiency.
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| AMD PROCESSORS | INTEL PROCESSORS |
| MID-RANGE -> HIGH-END | MID-RANGE -> HIGH-END |
Usually, it is worth matching the CPU to the GPU - don’t choose a high-end GPU with an entry-level CPU or vice versa. It is true that for a pure gaming laptop any one of these processors is more than up for the job, but if you’re going to be using the laptop for other tasks such as streaming, editing videos or the like, it’s worth opting for a high-end processor as they will provide a more responsive experience.
It’s important to have sufficient system memory or RAM in your laptop, if you don’t games will stutter at inopportune moments putting you off your aim. We recommend the following memory configurations, but don’t forget you can upgrade the memory in most laptops later if required.
An SSD is essential in a gaming laptop, not just to make games load fast but also because they consume less power than a hard disk, helping to boost battery life and weigh less too. We recommend a laptop with at least a 1TB SSD or larger, as with games taking up more space every generation, you can never really have too large an SSD in your laptop. If you do run out of storage space, many laptops will have a spare M.2 slot or 2.5in bay to add in another SSD. However, this isn’t always possible with thin and light laptops, so check the specs carefully before buying an extra SSD.
Although you may be choosing a gaming laptop over a gaming PC due to the added flexibility and portability, you may still have a desk area at home where accessories will improve your user experience.
Every gaming laptop includes a compact keyboard, many of which also include RGB backlighting and some may even have superior keys with mechanical switches instead of rubber dome ones. However, you may want a dedicated gaming keyboard to connect to your laptop. There’s a huge choice out there and you can learn more by reading our GAMING KEYBOARD BUYERS GUIDE.
Every gaming laptop includes a touchpad, however they are really only meant for web browsing and office productivity applications. You’ll almost certainly want to connect a dedicated gaming mouse to better control their experience. As with gaming keyboards there’s a vast choice out there, you can learn more by reading our GAMING MICE BUYERS GUIDE.
Although every laptop includes speakers and a microphone, because these are integrated into the underside or sides of the laptop and feature tiny drivers the sound quality and maximum volume usually leaves a lot to be desired. Browse our range of GAMING HEADSETS and SPEAKERS.
If you’re finding your laptop runs a bit on the hot side a laptop cooler could be worth looking into. These slim laptop stands lift the laptop off the desk by a few millimetres and provide extra cooling for the laptop via an embedded fan. As an added bonus, most laptop stands also tilt the laptop slightly forwards, making typing more comfortable, if not using an external keyboard. Browse our range of LAPTOP COOLERS.
As mentioned previously having an additional external monitor can either provide simply a larger screen when you’re gaming in a fixed desk environment, or a second (or third) screen to view multiple applications at once. Much like your gaming laptop screen there are the same resolutions and refresh rate parameters to consider. You can learn more by reading our MONITORS BUYERS GUIDE.
The size and thickness of your gaming laptop will govern the amount of inbuilt connectivity it has - some laptops may have just a couple of USB ports, whereas larger models will feature multiple USB, HDMI, Ethernet and SD card slots. It’s worth thinking about what you may need to connect to your laptop, whether it be an additional screen, keyboard, mouse, an external drive or USB back-up devices. Browse our range of CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS.
If you’re planning on taking your gaming laptop with you on the road make sure you invest in a good quality bag. This not only makes carrying the laptop and accessories such as mouse and headset a lot more convenient, but also will protect it from damage. We stock a wide range of backpack and executive style laptop bags at a wide range of price points. Browse our range of LAPTOP BAGS.
There you have it, everything you need to know about choosing a new gaming laptop. We sell a wide variety of models from top laptop brands such as Asus, MSI and Razer plus customisable laptops from our very own 3XS Systems.
Browse our range of gaming laptops.
Alternatively, if you have any further questions you'd like answering about gaming laptops, don't hesitate to call one of our friendly advisors on 01204 474747